JONESBORO,
Ark. (12/8/12) –A three-pointer from
Arkansas State University’s Ed Townsel
with 2.4 seconds to play led the Red Wolves to a thrilling 73-70 triumph over
St. Bonaventure this Saturday (Dec. 8) afternoon in front of an ASU Convocation
Center crowd of 2,378 fans in Jonesboro, Ark.

The
victory kept ASU’s perfect home record intact at 3-0 as the Red Wolves ended a
two-game losing skid in the process.

“It
was a good college basketball game to coach and a great game to watch,” said
ASU head coach John Brady.“The first 20 minutes of the game was the
best we’ve played this season and that’s how we need to play to beat quality
teams.”

A
steal and layup by freshman guard Raeford
“Gator” Worsham with tied the game up at 70 with 41.3 seconds
remaining.Following an A-State timeout,
the Bonnies’ Chris Johnson misfired on a three-point try with 11 seconds left
and Ed Townsel grabbed the defensive
rebound.Townsel then dribbled up the floor on the
right side into the St. Bonaventure frontcourt before crossing over to the left nearest the ASU bench. He then pulled up at a spot located left of the three-point line key from 24 feet out and his uncontested jumper drew nothing but
net for what proved the game-winning bucket.The Bonnies had the final
possession following a timeout with 2.4 ticks left on the clock and were able to get the ball into the forecourt, but Demitrius Conger’s long jumper from the
right wing was defended and hit off the iron as time expired.

“It
felt like it was a great shot when it left my hand and it felt even better when
I made it,” said Townsel, who also connected on a last second game-tying three
in overtime earlier this season (Nov. 16) in an ASU triple-overtime decision at
Tennessee-Martin.

The
Red Wolves, who were without the services of junior forward Kendrick Washington due to an injury,
opened the non-conference contest with a 13-4 lead through the first seven
minutes and would hold a 17-point advantage (42-25) at the 1:32 mark en route
to claiming a 42-28 lead at the half.A-State shot a 59% from the floor in the first period while the Bonnies
connected on only 28% of their shots.

In
the second half, St. Bonaventure outscored the Red Wolves 12-5 in the opening
six minutes to cut ASU’s lead to 47-42 with 13:54 left in the game.A-State continued to hold a slim margin over
the Bonnies for next six minutes until SBC’s Charlon Kloof knocked down a
triple to even things up at 56-all at the second half’s 7:49 mark.The teams exchanged the lead four times in
the next two-plus minutes as the Bonnies proceeded to go up by four at 67-63
with 3:39 to be played.ASU bounced back
from the deficit by scoring five of the next six points in just over a one
minute span as Ed Townsel canneda triple from the corner with 2:04 showing on the clock to
tie the game up at 68-apiece.

Brandon
Peterson and Raeford Worsham led the Red Wolves with 18 points each and were
joined in double-digits by sophomore guard Rakeem Dickerson with 12 a
career-high tying points.Peterson also
recorded his fourth double-double of this season by hauling down a game-leading
13 rebounds to go with his 18-point performance.

Chris
Johnson’s 19 points for St. Bonaventure led all scorers while Matthew Wright
pumped in 13 and Charlon Kloof provided 10 points.Demitrius Conger chalked up a squad-high 12
rebounds for the Bonnies to go with eight points.

ASU
concluded the day shooting 46.2% for the game as a team with a 24-of-57
shooting effort and St. Bonaventure hit for 46.2% by going 24-of-52.The Red Wolves were five-of-17 (29.4%) beyond
the arc and 20-of-25 (80.0%) at the free throw stripe compared to SBU’s
six-of-24 (69.6%) effort from long range and 16-of-23 (69.6%) showing at the
charity line.

The
Red Wolves improved to 5-3 overall this season with their second consecutive
win over the Bonnies and are now 5-1 in non-league encounters.St. Bonaventure had its two-game winning
streak snapped with the loss as the Bonnies’ record dips to 5-3 on the season.

A-State
continues action midst its current homestand on Sunday, Dec. 16, as the Red Wolves
entertain the Austin Peay State Governors in a 2:05 p.m. (CT) non-conference
outing at the ASU Convocation Center in Jonesboro.Tickets for the game can be purchased by
calling the ASU Ticket Office at (870) 972-27891 or 1-888-ASU-FANS.Fans may also visit the A-State Athletics website
at www.RedWolves.com and click on the tickets icon located in the upper
right corner of the homepage to order their tickets.

AStAte Notes:Brandon Peterson recorded his fourth double-double of this season and his second in a row. He had 10 points and 10 rebounds at Florida Atlantic a week ago (12/1) ... Rakeem Dickerson's 12 points tied a personal career single-game high, equalling his 12 points output versus ULM last season (2/2/12) ... Raeford Worsham's 18 points matched his season best set earlier this campaign (11/21) at Central Arkansas. Worsham is averaging 11.8 points per game in his last five outings ... The Red Wolves are shooting at 48.9% (87-178) efficiency in their three home contests this season which have all resulted in victories ... A-State's 80.0% success rate (20-25)at the free throw line represents a season high, bettering its 68.8% (11-16) in the season opener at Dayton (11/10)...Ed Townsel has now netted three triples per contest on six occasions this season which includes his three-of-six effort against St. Bonaventure.